Chapter 17: Gandhi, Value Creation, and Global Education: Intercultural Perspectives on Education for Citizenship

This chapter examines the contributions that the Indian political leader and educator, Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) can make to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) led practice of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) and a sustainable world. It discusses issues related to the cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioural dimensions of learning to know, learning to be, and learning to do involving a critical analysis of what it means to be and become an active citizen. This work expands on a long-term study on selected thinkers that suggests that there are political implications of taking action based on values, such as, peace and non-violence. Challenges often emerge when one takes action in real-world politics, and there are merits in studying the modes of creativity displayed by actors who are embroiled in these successes and challenges. Among the examples of such thinkers is Gandhi, the leader of one of the largest non-violent mass movements in the recent history of India with a significant influence abroad. As discussed in this chapter, a critical engagement with studies on the patterns of living of people and communities across Western/non-Western diasporas that are based on values, such as peace and non-violence, can help develop intercultural understandings and enhance education for citizenship. The chapter examines value-creating global citizenship education as a pedagogical approach to learning that has been developed as an outcome of studies on Gandhi and other Asian thinkers.